Round Table

Posted: 4/2003

...ON THE FCC'S RULING ON BROADBAND

"[S]mall businesses should be disappointed by the commission's decision to alter the deregulatory framework governing broadband services by the Bell monopolies. We believe that the provision will lead to higher DSL service prices and less broadband availability for small business customers."

--Karen Kerrigan, chairman, Small Business Survival Committee

"At least, the FCC got the rules for broadband right. The weight of the evidence before the commission was that its forced sharing of telecom networks had gone too far, and was slowing down both new entrants' and incumbents' buildout of new network elements. It's unfortunate that the agency did not also deregulate things like switching."

--Solveig Singleton, senior policy analyst, Competitive Enterprise Institute

"[T]he FCC passed on the opportunity to guarantee that broadband competition continues on a level playing field across the country. We agree with Chairman Powell's statement that line sharing has clear and measurable benefits for consumers. In his dissenting statement on the decision he says the panel talks glowingly about facilities-based competition, but the decision gives facilities providers 'the back of their hand.'"

--Charles Hoffman, president and CEO, Covad Communications Co.

"It appears that the FCC on one hand is trying to provide incentives to deploy broadband and on the other it is taking those incentives away [by requiring Bell companies to seek state commission approval to retire copper loops and subloops]"

--Tom Tauke, senior vice president public policy and external affairs, Verizon Communications Inc.

"Unfortunately, changes in the FCC's rules regarding broadband are highly detrimental to competition. This order prohibits competitors from accessing existing and future fiber in Bell networks, stifling their ability to provide consumers with the benefits of competitive choice. As Commissioner Copps stated, this will perpetuate the ultimate bottleneck in consumer access to competitive broadband services."

--Wayne E. Huyard, president of MCI Mass Markets, WorldCom Inc.